PHILADELPHIA – Take a good close look tonight at the legend behind the bench presiding over the Devils. It’s Larry Robinson … who, under a confluence of circumstances, could just become the next head coach of the Rangers.

Bear with me for a moment. Allow me to connect the dots that would bring Robinson, who is now the mentor everyone expected he would be when he went to L.A. for his first top in 1995, across the Hudson from East Rutherford to Broadway.

Dave Checketts has spoken about wanting to hire a general manager with a proven track record of success. A number of men have become the object of media speculation. Glen Sather and Scotty Bowman have been cited

as potential candidates, and so, at least in this space, have Ken Holland and George McPhee.

But there’s another individual who fits the criteria, fits them better than most, and, it is now believed, will be available to talk to Checketts at the end of his team’s season without the Garden presermission for him to do so.

We’re talking about Bob Gainey, completing his eighth year in Dallas, and whose Stars are seeking their second straight Stanley Cup championship.

And then we’re talking about Gainey perhaps whispering in the ear of Robinson, his Montreal teammate for 16 seasons and five Cups, to entice No. 19 to join him on Broadway.

Two years ago, Gainey was in the middle of a contract with Dallas when the Maple Leafs asked for permission to talk with him. When it became clear that Gainey had significant interest in the job, the two teams agreed on the compensation to allow the GM to move. The compensation, by the way, was Mathieu Schneider.

(Imagine, to be first “traded” for Bob Gainey only eventually to be dealt for Alexander Karpovtsev. There must be a moral in there somewhere, but the truth is that we’re far too busy weaving this Gainey-and-Robinson-to-Broadway tale to actually look for it.)

When Gainey decided against making the move, he signed a contract extension through the end of this season, a contract with options belonging to him, not the team. And so, it is our best information at this point that Gainey will be free to leave Dallas should he so desire. Only Gainey himself knows whether he has any inclination to leave Dallas; only Gainey, a private man, knows whether he would have even token interest in listening to whatever the Garden might have to say.

But let’s surmise that he might; that after 10 years with one organization – Gainey was first hired as coach of the North Stars in 1990 and brought a team that finished 12 games under .500 to the Cup Finals in his rookie season behind the bench – he might be interested in moving. Let’s even get way ahead of ourselves and suggest that he’s interested in moving to New York to take an offer the Garden certainly would make as refuse-proof as possible.

What then? What then is that Gainey would need a head coach.

While the Devils are the model of efficiency on the ice, their back-of-the-house operation is in a state of flux. Odd, isn’t it, that during the team’s last Cup run in 1995, the situation off the ice was also chaotic. Then, John McMullen was threatening to take the team to Nashville. Now, the owner be gone at the conclusion of the season, having sold the team. What this means for Lou Lamoriello and Robinson is anyone’s guess.

Lamoriello might stay. Harvey Schiller, who runs the YankeeNet operation that will oversee the Devils, told Mark Everson yesterday that he wants Lamoriello to remain on the job. Lamoriello yesterday refused to address the issue, just as he has refused to address it ever since the sale of the team first became a public issue, just as he refused to address the Nashville situation during the playoffs five years ago.

If Lamoriello does remain in New Jersey, it would be extremely unlikely – inconceivable, almost – for Robinson to leave, even if at this point he is not technically under contract as a head coach beyond this season.

But what if Lamoriello were to leave? Well, McMullen not only has some interest buying the Panthers, as we reported last week, but has serious interest in pursuing Fort Lauderdale’s team. It’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that Lamoriello and Robinson, who has long owned a home in Florida, could join McMullen there.

But if the three men choose divergent paths, then maybe, just maybe, Ranger GM Bob Gainey could entice Robinson to make the move behind the Garden bench. Maybe. Maybe the Rangers walk away from all of this with a pair of gems.

So take a look at the man behind the Devils bench for Game 2 of the Eastern Finals here tonight. Take a look at Larry Robinson, who, as we have now connected the dots for you, might just become the next head coach of the Rangers.